On Saturday at Folsom Field in Boulder, the debut of Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins left Buffs fans seeing double. .
Judging from the hysteria that has since struck the state – “” – the Buffs’ loss to their first-ever opponent from the lower division was nothing short of an outrage. And the $275,000 check that CU cut for the visit only added larceny to injury.
The reaction to the giant-killing got me thinking. Who exactly is this second-class citizen, this I-AA?
I should’ve known. I graduated from a school with a I-AA football program – Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. Lafayette’s rivalry with neighboring Lehigh University in Bethlehem is only the most played in the history of college football. Yet it seems my inattentiveness then stretched well beyond the classroom. I learned nothing of the I-AA game until this week, when I discovered it’s not as easy as I, II, III.
In 1978, the NCAA formed a subdivision of D-I football, establishing a level playing field and separate statistics for schools that could not compete with the powerhouses but wanted to maintain their athletic departments’ D-I status. With the subdivision came a smaller cap on scholarships (85 vs. 63) and the eradication of minimum-attendance requirements. The NCAA also created the , which has decided a national champion in a playoff format since 1978, when Florida A&M defeated UMass.
So, there is no such thing as a I-AA school. There are only I-AA football programs. Got all that? Wait. There’s more.
Just last month, the NCAA’s Division I board of directors moved to stem any confusion. The board might have done just the opposite. The board approved a change in terminology, effective come December, which renames I-A football: “Football Bowl Subdivision.” The I-AA variety will be known as “NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.”
By any other name, there are more than 100 institutions fielding I-AA football teams this season. Among them is the University of Northern Colorado, which opened its 94th season of football Saturday with at Nottingham Field in Greeley. It was the debut not only for coach Scott Downing, but also for UNC as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
The state’s lone I-AA football program, UNC is in the final year of a four-year transition to D-I athletics – the Bears won back-to-back titles in D-II football in 1996 and 1997 – and joined the I-AA Big Sky Conference this year. In 2007, UNC will be eligible for the conference title and postseason play.
|
NCAA FOOTBALL
|
|
|
Unlike some of its I-AA brethren, UNC did not schedule an away game against a D-I powerhouse. Sometimes labeled “money games,” these mismatches are more of an unspoken agreement: the D-I school pads the win column in exchange for a big payday, which can go a long way with an athletic department’s budget in the absence of capacity crowds, TV deals and merchandise/concessions sales.
Hiding somewhere in these agreements, however, is the fine print: You still have to play the game. And as UNC’s conference mate Montana State demonstrated Saturday, and as former New York Jets coach Herman Edwards once famously said: “You play to win the game.”
The Buffs’ misery enjoyed company Saturday. I-AA Portland State, which opens its conference schedule Saturday against UNC, upended New Mexico 17-6 at Albuquerque. I-AA Richmond shut out Duke 13-0 at Durham, N.C. And at Kansas State, only a failed two-point conversion with 3:02 remaining in the fourth quarter kept the Wildcats from forking over $300,000 for a loss at home to I-AA Illinois State.
The thunderstruck Buffs busied themselves this week by preparing for the Rocky Mountain Showdown with Colorado State on Saturday at Invesco Field at Mile High. Might lightning strike twice?
Look for it Saturday in Lincoln: I-AA Nicholls State vs. Nebraska.
An online exclusive that runs each Friday, examines the memorable and less visible aspects of Colorado’s sports landscape. DenverPost.com sports producer Bryan Boyle can be reached at bboyle@denverpost.com.
From the columns
“The Mountain West Conference promised a 24/7 television network covering the footprint of the league. So far, The mtn. covers about a heel and part of an arch, with carriers limited to Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.”
From the mailbags
“This team added a star receiver in Javon Walker and some key rookies. If the pass rush can come through and, again, the team stays injury free, the Broncos have a chance to be better than last season’s team.”
From the message boards
“I was trying to stir the pot and mix it up a little bit with all of you earlier. It gets to be pretty boring when everyone on a site agrees with each other and thinks that their teams are perfect.” — bobhaggs
From the online exclusives
“All Things Broncos” has reentered the blogosphere, cataloging news and notes from Denver Post staff writers Mike Klis and Bill Williamson. This blog also showcases team-related minutiae pertaining to division rivals and upcoming games throughout the season.
A look back
 |
| Post / Kathryn Scott Osler |
|
In Colorado’s first matchup with a Division I-AA school since the subdivision was created in 1978, Montana State defeated the Buffs 19-10 on Saturday at Folsom Field in Boulder in the debut for CU coach Dan Hawkins, right. |
